Being Ares: Ares' And Aphrodite's Excellent Adventure
by Arianwen P.F. Everett
Summary: Several weeks after beginning Ares' therapy, Dr. Naadiah receives a visit from one of her patient's relatives wanting to know more about her process. So Dr. Naadiah decides to send the Goddess of Love back in time with her brother on one of his regrets to let her experience it all for herself.
1. Chapter 1

Authoress' Note: This story begins in 2001, but after the events of 'Soul Possession'.

P.S. While you have to be familiar with Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess to read this story, you don't need as much background on 'Being Erica' to follow along. In that series, Erica Strange, a 31-year-old woman living in Toronto in 2009, undergoes the same time travel therapy featured in this story, in order to learn from her regrets over her past choices. While Erica's doctor is Dr. Tom, the therapist featured in 'Being Ares', Dr. Naadiah, appeared in a handful of 'Being Erica' episodes and was once Dr. Tom's therapist and his mentor during the series. In short, 'Being Erica' lends its premise and a few of its characters, but this is first and foremost a Hercules: The Legendary Journeys / Xena: Warrior Princess fanfic.

 **Being Ares:** **Ares and Aphrodite's Excellent Adventure**

 **Part** **1**

A Xena: Warrior Princess / Being Erica Crossover

By Arianwen P. F. Everett

Dr. Naadiah nearly jumped out of her skin upon arriving in her office. Seated behind her desk and examining a photograph of Shanly and herself at last weekend's jazz festival on Toronto Island was Ares' sister, Aphrodite, the one and only Goddess of Love. She had no idea how the woman.. goddess had gotten here, but that she wasn't supposed to have access was an understatement. As soon as Naadiah dealt with whatever the Love Goddess wanted, she'd have to contact Arthur immediately.

Before Naadiah could say a word, the blonde looked up at her and smiled brightly, completely ignorant of having invaded her office space. "You two look so cute together! My son does some awesome work, huh?"

"Your son? Oh , Cupid. You're Aphrodite and your son is Cupid, right. I get it. I get it. What I don't completely get is why you're in my office or how you even found it in the first place," Naadiah responded, heaving a sigh of relief now that she was beginning to understand the situation a bit better. Though she didn't really know much about Aphrodite, Ares spoke fondly about her. She seemed to be his favorite relative and looked out for him, which was probably why she was here. As a goddess, finding the place would be easy, so long as she knew what she was looking for. The fact that she did was the real issue. Ares needed this space to be private, so unless he'd already decided to trust his sister with the details of his therapy, there was a security breech to be dealt with.

"Duh. Ar gave me the 411 on your therapy sessions and I'm paying you a visit to ensure you're on the up and up. You've probably figured out by now that there are a lot of people, other gods mostly, who'd love to use what you know to cause my Bro pain, and I felt I needed to educate you on the consequences of helping them; Warrior Babe has nothing on me if you hurt the Studmuffin of War," Aphrodite explained, hooking Naadiah's desk photo frame over one pristinely manicured finger, while attempting to look as menacing as possible. She knew Ar was right; she had zero skill when it came to intimidation, but she had to at least try for his sake.

"I would never betray the confidence of any of my patients. However, I'm surprised Ares told you about what we do here," Dr. Naadiah stated, curious as to how much Ares had told Aphrodite. She didn't want to reveal any more than he had and she'd been warned that gods could be slippery when they desired information.

"Oh the time travel thing, well yeah, Ar was reluctant to spill, but then he needed me as back up to protect you and your boss when you went to see Herc last week. He trusted Grinhilda would do everything in her power to pay back her debt to him, but Warrior Babe is super fast and Grin has never been able to take her before. If Xena and Baby Bro were that determined to get info out of you two, a Valkyrie would be no match for them. I may not be a fighter, but I can teleport mortals to safety and undo Warrior Babe's pinch thingy. You don't live thousands of years and survive the Twilight without picking something up. So, about this time travel therapy; tell me ALL about it," Aphrodite insisted, taking the chair Naadiah's patients usually sat in, while making it clear with her tone that she had no intention of leaving until she understood the subject forwards and backwards.

As Naadiah joined the Goddess of Love across her desk, she got an idea and re-buttoned a stray button on her maroon duster before speaking again. "How about I show you rather than tell you. I can bring Ares here to work on a regret, and if he agrees, you can go with him and witness the process for yourself."

"You'd do that? Seriously?" Aphrodite responded, taken aback by the offer. From what Ares had told her, this therapy was usually hush hush and and the doctor steered things, not the patient. His being a god who understood the mechanics of it all was the only reason these therapists were cool with his revealing his participation. Unlike most mortals, the people in Ares' life wouldn't freak or run to the press.

"Seriously. Ares is my patient, but he's your brother and he obviously trusts you enough to share the details of his therapy with you; I have no problem doing the same, provided Ares consents to your tagging along," Naadiah reaffirmed, gesturing to where Ares had just appeared at her door.

"Hey Doc. What's she doing here?" Ares greeted Naadiah, merely curious as to why Aphrodite was in his therapists office and taking up his seat. He had confidence in both of these women, so seeing them together didn't raise any alarm bells.

"Your sister stopped by to ensure I was working in your best interests and if you're amenable, I've offered her the opportunity to go back with you on one of your regrets in order to quell any doubts she may still have," Dr. Naadiah explained, letting Ares know that the ball was in his court. If he didn't want Aphrodite to go, then Naadiah wouldn't push the subject.

"When would we be going back to?" Ares asked, trying to figure out which regret Dr. Naadiah intended him to relive. Several involved Aphrodite in some fashion, usually hanging out with Xena, Blondie, and the fool.

Pulling Ares' list of regrets from the bottom drawer of her desk, Dr. Naadiah perused it for a minute before landing on the final page. "How about regret number 43, Minthe?"

"Minthe? Oh, Ar, I can't believe you still remember her, much less that she made your list," Aphrodite sighed in heartfelt surprise, standing with an intent to hug her brother. As usual, he lifted a hand to stop her approach.

"What happened.. look, I know you forgave me, but it was my fault that she died, my fault that you had to watch her die. I was your big brother; it was my job to protect you. Oceanus would never have gotten hold of her if I'd been more focused, more alert. If I could go back.. when we go back.. I'm gonna be the God of War I was meant to be and make that soppy sh*t regret Gaea ever popped him out!"

Suddenly a second chair appeared on the patients' side of the desk and both gods took their cue to sit. They'd pretty much forgotten Naadiah was still in the room, preoccupied by both of their regrets. "Sorry to interrupt folks, but if I'm going to send you two back, I need to know what happened the first time."

Realizing what his doctor was after, Ares obediently began explaining. "Right. Right, the process. Alright, Minthe was.."

"She was my best friend, my first friend, really. Her dad was Lachrymose, God of Despair, and her mom was Anthousai, a wood nymph he'd managed to score some pity sex from. Anyway, they both sided with our parents against Grandpa Chronos, so Minthe was sent away with Ar and I for protection while the adults were off fighting," Aphrodite detailed, cutting off her brother and settling into the leather chair for a good therapeutic experience. She knew the power of therapy and as she'd told Dr. Naadiah, she wanted to understand the whole process.

"And how old were all of you at the time?" Dr. Naadiah asked, making sure to direct her question to Ares. While Aphrodite was free to come along, this was still his regret and his therapy.

"Dite and Minthe were about seven or eight. I was thirteen.. although I had to have been close to fourteen as it was only a season later when Zeus sent me on my first scouting mission with Athena," Ares replied, remembering his early training in reconnaissance. Though tinged with a bittersweet flavor now, these were still happy memories.

"You enjoyed scouting with Athena?" Dr. Naadiah asked, noticing the small smile that had graced her patient's lips at the memory.

"Hah! He was her dutiful puppy-dog back then, all puffed up and important about going to war. 'Athena taught me how to lay a false trail. Athena taught me how to detect an ambush in marshy terrain.' You couldn't shut him up!" Aphrodite bellowed with glee, completely unable to control her laughter.

"Hell of a lot more entertaining than marrying off dollies and mooning over Apollo! By the gods I still can't believe you were ever into that creep!" Ares shot back, rolling his eyes at his sister's foolish childhood crush.

"Ex-squeeze me, I was eight years old, and I barely knew him! How was I supposed to know he'd turn out to be such a colossal jerk!" Aphrodite defended herself, refusing to take such revisionist history from her big brother.

"Okay, okay, I get it. You were both very young," Dr. Naadiah summarized, eager to pull her two patients out of their bout of sibling rivalry. Having two brothers herself, she knew these arguments could pop up out of nowhere and take hours to reach a stalemate, irregardless of what else needed to be accomplished that day.

"Yeah, young and overconfident, which is where Minthe comes in. Zeus and Hera had left us all with Rhea, and we kind of tricked her into playing hide-and-go-seek," Ares admitted, ashamed at having taken advantage of his grandmother's desire to immerse herself in her family members' lives. How many times had she thrown herself into their problems and their schemes, only to be the one left holding the bag? How many sacrifices had she made for her husband, then her son, then her grandchildren, only to have them shoved it all back in her face. At least he'd actually done some terrible things to Xena for her to manipulate and deceive him. Rhea's only crime had been caring too much, and for that she'd sentenced herself to an eternity of unconsciousness.

"Only we didn't hide; we slipped out of the cave the four of us had been holed up in and took off for the beach. Minthe had never seen the ocean before and I wanted to show it to her. Ar just came along for our protection; if he hadn't, I wouldn't be sitting here right now. It wasn't Ar's fault, Dr. Naadiah; it was mine. Minthe died because of me. This time around, I'm going to be a better friend and stay put. Minthe might be disappointed, but at least she'll be alive," Aphrodite confessed, feeling her own long suppressed guilt surge to the surface.

Seeing Ares about to protest, Dr. Naadiah raised her hand the way she'd seen Ares do when his sister had tried to hug him earlier and took a moment to absorb both of the melancholy gods before her. "It appears you both have some work to do, and I wish you luck."

Feeling the chill begin to surround him, Ares turned to his sister to warn her. "And away we go!"

The millisecond the warping around them ceased, Ares dropped and rolled sideways, instinct taking over as a staff whooshed passed his head, only to slam into his gut before he could right himself. His mistake had been to look up to see who he'd been fighting. He should have known and he should have prepared to see her again. He had been, but this was sooner than he'd expected.

"Am I that much better or are you just getting worse, Brother?" a nineteen-year-old Athena crowed rhetorically, as she continued her assault, slamming her staff against Ares' windpipe and pinning him to the cave wall.

Remembering their last major sparing session in Amphipolis, Ares unleashed all his power into pushing back against her staff, sending Athena careening into the opposite wall with a thud, before taking a few deep breaths to ready himself for her next assault. Still, that hard sound of his elder sister's head hitting rock had felt amazingly satisfying. "I don't know, Sis. You're supposed to be the Goddess of Wisdom. You tell me."

Smirking back, the young Athena attempted a swipe at Ares' groin, only to have her staff's momentum used against her. Her brother then brought his own weapon upward, popping it from her hands and sending it flying across the cave. Stunned at being disarmed so quickly, Athena retrieved her weapon and just stood there, examining her younger brother. "Where did you learn that?"

"Egypt," Ares quipped, knowing full well the first pharaohs wouldn't exist for centuries. At later points in her life, Athena would earn her father's respect as a warrior, but for now she was just his energetic daughter who was good with weapons. As a result, Ares could mouth off hints to his being from the future that would confuse Athena, but no matter what she told their parents, even if she managed to gather proof, she'd pretty much be ignored. Watching Athena's confusion play across her usually smug face, Ares found himself looking forward to exploiting that for all it was worth, and it was only a tug on his right shoulder that pulled him away from his revenge fantasies.

Looking down, Ares nearly wet himself when he saw Aphrodite. While he suspected he was in his younger body, as Athena hadn't seemed as petite as she eventually would when he reached his full height, seeing his younger sister sealed that deal. "Dite, look at you! Oh man, I wish I had a camera!"

"What's a camera? What's an Egypt? What's going on here?!" Athena shouted, forcing herself between her two younger siblings and demanding their attention. Whatever was they were up to, Ares was using fighting techniques she'd never even seen before but wanted to learn, and Aphrodite had purposely come to watch the fight and talk with Ares when she was usually off playing with Minthe or their grandmother, and couldn't care less about the war or her older siblings for that matter. Now the two of them were communicating in some bizarre code and mocking her. That could not be tolerated. She was the first born and she needed to regain control.

"Sucks to be out of the loop, doesn't it?" Aphrodite joined in the taunting, now realizing what Ares had already figured out. They were going to decimate their stuck up older sister while they were here! It was like a cosmic freebie for all the self-satisfied commentary they'd had to put up with over the centuries. Payback was a b*tch, after all.

"Alright, if neither of you are going to take things seriously, I might as well head out early," Athena stated with frustrated resignation. Whatever her siblings had planned she didn't have time for it; she had work to do. Their family was at war and she couldn't allow herself to be dragged into one of Ares' and Aphrodite's pranks at the moment. She'd figure out what was going on, she always did, but now was not the time.

As the teenaged Athena flashed away to her business, Ares and Aphrodite totally lost it, doubling over in laughter at their sister's confusion. Yet after a few moments, their humor bled into the dirt beneath their feet, as both remembered that this wasn't their time and Athena was already dead. They might make new memories with her here, but she'd never learn from those memories as they would. They might tease her in these past moments, but she'd never get the joke, ever. Though Ares had dealt with this before, when he'd been lectured about his love for Xena by Zeus and Hera the first time Dr. Naadiah had sent him back, he'd had a far warmer relationship with his big sister, and he instinctively knew that returning to her long vacant rooms on Olympus would bring all the grief he'd experienced over the centuries since the Twilight had claimed her rushing back when next he saw 2001. There was no staying here for either of them, and they'd have to say good bye to Athena again sooner or later. No, there was nothing to laugh about, only one more hard lesson to learn from.

Seeing Aphrodite was on the same page in her understanding, and that her tears were already flowing at a brisk pace over the prospect of their imminent loss, Ares placed a comforting hand on her small shoulder. "They call it therapy because it's hard work."

"When did you get so wise, Bro?" Aphrodite quipped, before attempting to reach down into her bra for a tissue, and.. expelling the most ear piercing scream Ares had heard from her in centuries.

All of a sudden Rhea came running out of the other cavern. "What's going on? What's happening?"

"My chest.. it's.. FLAT!" Aphrodite whined as she realized she was in her prepubescent body and thus, completely unendowed.

"Ares! Stop teasing your sister! In your father's name, the two of you scared me witless!" Rhea scolded as she rolled her eyes at her grandchildren. She'd raced through the caves, imaging her husband crushing them beneath his meaty fist, only to find his grandson had teased his little sister into hysterics over her lack of development. No matter how many children and grandchildren Rhea raised, they all started out such feral little creatures that Rhea sometimes wondered how they'd ever manage to function. They usually did, but at times like this, she had her doubts.

"I didn't do anything! She just looked down at herself and started screaming! I swear, Nana!" Ares reacted defensively. It wasn't that he was shocked that Rhea would assume he'd tormented Aphrodite. Admittedly, he sometimes had, well into the future.. really, all the way up to 2001. No, what was getting to him was that Aphrodite hadn't come to his defense and clarified the situation. Unlike his other siblings, she'd rarely taken any joy in seeing him accused of something he'd had no part in.

"Well be more careful, regardless. You scared poor Minthe half to death and she ran off into the lower levels. Now I have to go track her down. I swear, sometimes I wish I'd never married Chronos in the first place. My life would be far simpler if I'd remained a virgin," Rhea muttered under her breath as she turned to leave.

Realizing Aphrodite would inevitably respond to that statement in a way unbefitting an eight-year-old, Ares clamped his hand over her mouth until their grandmother had left the cave he and Athena had been sparing in. His older sister might not be completely trustworthy in Zeus' current estimation, but his own mother certainly was, and if she found out that her grandchildren had been replaced by their counterparts nearly forty thousand years into the future, that would be very, very bad for both of them.

However, it appeared that they'd already caused a change to the fate they both regretted. According to Rhea, Minthe had fled into the lower caves at Aphrodite's shriek. If so, then they'd be going deeper into the Earth, rather than towards the ocean this time. Over the decades they'd retreated here while the War of the Titans had raged, all of Zeus and Hera's children who were old enough to remember the fight had learned the entire system like the back of their hand. It had been their protection and their playground. Ares had to hope that millennia of distance hadn't dulled their memories. If they got lost, there was a good chance it could take years to find their way out, and Ares' seriously doubted Dr. Naadiah would wait that long. He and Dite had come here for a purpose, to save Minthe and wash that stain of guilt from both their souls. If Dr. Naadiah pulled them out before they even got a chance to try because they'd been stupid enough to get lost in a honeycomb of tunnels, that lost opportunity would continue to haunt them for the rest of their lives.

"Minthe ran into the tunnels. If we're going to save her, we should probably head in as well." Aphrodite stated, resolved to trek through the dirty, infested caverns of her youth to save her first friend. With a flash, she'd adorned her child body with twenty-first century spelunking gear, causing Ares to roll his eyes but follow suit. They could always change back once they found the girl, so there was little risk of getting caught, and they'd move faster this way.

Nodding with understanding, Ares shimmied his way into a small crack they both knew led down to one of the major junctures in the system. Several tunnels met there and considering where Rhea's rooms were, it was a good bed Minthe would end up there in the next day or so. Once she'd made her own way through the crack, Aphrodite gave her big brother a reassuring smile, and the two continued down into the darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

Authoress' Note: This story begins in 2001, but after the events of 'Soul Possession'.

P.S. While you have to be familiar with Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess to read this story, you don't need as much background on 'Being Erica' to follow along. In that series, Erica Strange, a 31-year-old woman living in Toronto in 2009, undergoes the same time travel therapy featured in this story, in order to learn from her regrets over her past choices. While Erica's doctor is Dr. Tom, the therapist featured in 'Being Ares', Dr. Naadiah, appeared in a handful of 'Being Erica' episodes and was once Dr. Tom's therapist and his mentor during the series. In short, 'Being Erica' lends its premise and a few of its characters, but this is first and foremost a Hercules: The Legendary Journeys / Xena: Warrior Princess fanfic.

 **Being Ares:** **Ares and Aphrodite's Excellent Adventure**

 **Part** **2**

A Xena: Warrior Princess / Being Erica Crossover

By Arianwen P. F. Everett

"That was totally not fair, ya know, what you did to Thenie, I mean," Aphrodite said, hating the long silence that had passed. They'd only started down into the caves ten minutes ago, yet despite her immortality, it was still creepy. Back on the farm, when she was human and forced to sleep, these channels in the Earth were the setting for nightmares. She'd never understood how mortals could risk it night after night for the entirety of their lives, except that they had no choice. Sleeping was a requirement for them. Ares, on the other hand, slept on occasion in order to relieve stress. That she really didn't get. For her, stress release involved moving, talking, or sex. All three at the same time worked best.

"Absolutely, but it felt good. You remember how she was. I mean, I loved her and I grieved her, but she redefined the word condescension. I guess I'm still sick of it," Ares replied, not knowing why he'd baited his older sister other than to wipe the smug expression off her face. A part of him had indeed wanted to hug her and tell her how sorry he was that he'd not found a way to keep both she and Xena alive, but in that moment, he just couldn't. There relationship had always been complex; perhaps it still was.

Staring down the almost endless darkness of the narrow cave they were traveling, Aphrodite swallowed hard. "How far do you think.. you know, until we risk running into him?"

For a brief moment, Ares stood confused about who his sister was talking about, but then his memory caught up and he grimaced. Hades, barely three years older than himself, would be in the world above right now, using his helmet of invisibility to spy on titans. Grumpy, old Thanatos ruled the underworld at this time and he was devoutly loyal to Chronos, not to mention sadistic. When Minthe had died, Zeus had forbid her burial until the end of the war so as to prevent her suffering at the hands of that monster. She'd been forced to remain halfway between life and death, a fate that drove most mortal souls insane, and had it not been for Athena's quick thinking to feed the girl lotus, so as to blind her to the pain of such a state, the half-dead child might have lost her sanity as she waited for rest. As a result, Hades had always taken special care of her once he'd claimed his domain. In a way their whole family felt guilty about her death, so they made her eternal rest as peaceful as possible. "We're not going that far, only to the juncture. You know where we all used to lay low til mom and dad finished blowing the tops off mountains, literally in some cases."

"Right. Right. I almost forgot," Aphrodite returned, feeling a bit better.

"We just have to hope Minthe didn't go any further. Then.. then we'll have to risk it. But don't worry, coming at it from the second time around, we have millennia of an edge over him, again literally," Ares informed his sister, not wanting to upset her, but also believing she had a right to know the dangers. If push came to shove, he'd go it alone. This was his his therapy after all, but he'd learned quickly in Dr. Naadiah's office that Aphrodite had as much pent up regret over the young demigoddess' demise, and he wanted to give her this chance to heal. As Dr. Naadiah had said on his first trip into the past 'We learn by doing. There is no other way.' Aphrodite deserved this shot at doing. It might not pan out, but at least she'd know she'd given it her all.

"Yeah. I see your point," Aphrodite replied, a bit more at ease. They might be in the bodies of kids, but inside their heads they were tens of thousands of years old, having gone through all of this before. Thanatos might be older, but he was a titan and thus not nearly as bright and with far less overall life experience.

Reaching a point in the cave where it suddenly widened, Ares' eyes rested on a particular large stalagmite their generation of Olympians had set a lantern, and he smiled with fond memories. "Peppermint break?"

Suddenly realizing where her brother was going, Aphrodite smiled. "Yes, please."

Carefully reaching into a notch in the cave wall, Ares grasped two hard candies Hestia had made them before she'd separated from the main group and went into hiding. Handing one to his sister, Ares popped the other in his mouth and let the tart, but sweet taste fill his mouth. After lighting the lantern, Ares sat himself down on a rock to rest a moment. "So, what do you think of Dr. Naadiah's process so far?"

"Very hands on, which I guess is a good approach for you. You were never big on just talking about your feelings," Aphrodite commented as she rolled the candy into her cheek.

"Well, you know what I say, why waste time talking when you can fight," Ares quipped, earning an eye roll from his younger sister.

"Dr. Naadiah seems very dedicated, although I have to wonder what her angle is. I mean, I get that she wants to help. Some mortals just have a major altruistic streak, but there has to be a purpose to this eventually. I mean, she's playing with major forces here. You don't do that without a goal at least," Aphrodite contemplated, wondering what Ares' therapist was hoping to accomplish.

"Yeah, but I don't think even she or her boss, Dr. Arthur knows for certain. They're running the game themselves, no higher power calling the shots with human vessels to proxy, so I figure its' pretty much what it appears to be, a form of therapy that just happens to work for gods as well as mortals," Ares replied, having considered this question for several weeks now. He knew Dr. Naadiah nor her boss was seeking personal gain. He'd made it quite clear he wasn't going to offer them anything of worldly value for this process, but that didn't mean there wasn't a reason they did what they did.

"Maybe it's a karma thing. I mean, mortals do go around and around on that reincarnation wheel thingy. Perhaps these docs are trying to rack up some serious enlightenment points," Aphrodite speculated as she swallowed the last bit of her candy.

"But then why offer the therapy to me? I'm a god; we don't reincarnate," Ares replied, as he balled the candy's tiny strip of wax paper back and forth between his palms.

"You don't know that. Maybe we do reincarnate and it just takes us longer. I mean, who knows where Thenie or Hephie or Daddy went after the Twilight. Maybe they're out there somewhere, living as other things. Perhaps Dr. Naadiah is just trying to give you a leg up on your next incarnation," Aphrodite theorized, letting her mouth wonder into the philosophical speculation she'd been doing since the Twilight.

"Well, whatever the reason, I'm not yet at the point in the process where I"d find out. I've made a commitment to see it all through, so I'm sure if there is a point, she'll get to it eventually. Right now, however, we need to get back to work. Minthe has a head start, but we know the caverns better than her; so while we can cover a greater area more quickly, she can get lost and stumble into something big and nasty that we'd all have to deal with, assuming we found her in time," Ares detailed, analyzing the situation, with his powers. Modern warfare placed a high priority on search and rescue ops, so he instantly understood them like the back of his hand.

"Big and nasty.. I'm assuming you don't mean that in the good way?" Aphrodite joked, a wicked smile taking up residence on her lips.

"Don't say stuff like that, Dite! It's downright creepy coming out of an eight year old! Yikes," Ares commented, slightly nauseated by the blue humor the tiny Love Goddess was spouting.

"Hey, just because I'm in a younger body, doesn't mean I no longer have to represent. I'm still the Goddess of Love and dirty jokes are still my kahuna!" Ares younger sister, shot back, her blonde curls shaking with disdain at her brother's attempt to quash her wit.

"That doesn't make it any less gross," Ares replied, grimacing at the child-body his grown up sister now inhabited.

After sticking out her tongue and rolling her eyes a final time, Aphrodite acceded to the need to keep moving. It appeared that they'd traded pissing off one mean titan for potentially pissing off an even worse one. That could really alter their history, possibly even cost their family the war, and even Aphrodite wasn't willing to risk that over vanity and a desire to be right.

Five minutes later, the two siblings finally made it to the massive underground juncture and started looking around, each holding a lantern and using their enhanced Olympian senses to search beyond what they could see. Eventually they had to admit that Minthe wasn't anywhere nearby and they began to worry. Ares too charge, knowing his sister would otherwise dither with every minute possibility before coming to the same conclusion he'd already arrived at. "We have two choices. Turn back and hope she's with Rhea. After all, just because she ran doesn't mean she went far. Or we continue downward, assuming she's gone further than intended and has ended up lost or trapped."

Aphrodite considered their options before speaking. "Well Dr. Naadiah said this was about your regret, so splitting up would likely upset her…"

"Ah, ah, ah. Dr. Naadiah doesn't pull the strings. That's one thing I've learned already. These therapists, as they call themselves, don't play the games we play with mortals. Instead they merely send people.. or gods.. back into their pasts, permitting them to make changes that they regret not making the first time they were at a particular point in their lives. Dr. Naadiah didn't lure Minthe down into the caves to set things in motion; your freak out about the size of your boobs.. or lack thereof, frightened her off, which is why I'm leaning towards continuing down. If you recall, when we initially ran into Oceanus, Minthe lost her shit fairly quickly, so if Rhea has already found her, we'd be the objects of her search by now. Considering the set of pipes Nana had, and the fact that we're more closely bonded to her by blood, we'd know it if she was looking for us," Ares concluded, needing his sister to understand that while this might be a test, it wasn't one she could out think the proctor on. There truly were no right answers, only choices and consequences to them.

"Okay, grant it, but you didn't loose as much as I did with.. this body!" Aphrodite lamented, trying to cup something that just wasn't there and whimpering at the futility.

Ares sighed at his younger sister's single-minded devotion to her appearance and turned to face her. Talking her out of preening was a feat many titans, gods, and demigods had tried and failed to do. At times like this, the only path forward was to overpraise her other qualities till her ego had its fill. "Think of it this way, wearing your younger skin, Thanatos or Oceanus or anyone else for that matter will easily underestimate you. They'll think you're some dumb kid they can jerk around, or kill with little trouble, but in reality you'll have the advantage, not to mention, the last laugh. Then Minthe will be alive and safe, we'll go back to 2001, and you'll get your old.. I mean glorious.. body back good as new."

"Okay, okay, I'm feelin' it! I'll be like a Russian spy in a Bond film, only smaller! Oh, I wonder if could make this body work with white gogo boots!" Aphrodite asked, rhetorically, as she scanned her skinny little legs for any sign of potential.

"Whatever makes you happy.. Nikita," Ares quipped with a roll of his eyes. His younger sister's mind went to the oddest places sometime, but he was glad he'd distracted her from the negatives of what was going on. A whiny Aphrodite meant nothing got done.

Over next twenty minutes, Aphrodite imagined every mod ensemble that could go with a pair of white gogo boots, while Ares kept his mind on the task at hand. Finding Minthe was only half the problem. Yes there were dangers down here, but he'd meant what he'd told his sister, their future knowledge and non-interventionist Dr. Naadiah's methodology gave them a huge advantage over Thanatos and most other Titans. However, Ares had learned that this therapy wasn't about strategy. It wasn't enough to figure out how to fix the past, sometimes that wasn't even possible; what mattered wast he how and just as important, what consequences the changes' left in their wake. He'd chosen to not force Nemesis to give him a son, and he'd had to deal with Hercules' loss of Evander as a result. Now he was looking to rescue a minor goddess who had been killed in what mortals called 'The War of the Titans'. That would likely bring its own butterfly effect, and he needed to be ready for whatever came their way once his therapist returned them to the 21st century.

Suddenly Ares was brought up short, and he signaled to Aphrodite to stop and remain silent while he listened. Something wasn't right, yet he couldn't put his finger on it. Looking around with his lantern and godly senses, Ares couldn't spot the source of his unease, so he pulled inward and touched every sense individually, and after a moment of using only his ears, he heard it, under the bugs and worms and other creatures of the cave, there was a low rumbling moan. It was intermittent, but he knew the sound well. It was the sound of a wounded soldier, half conscious with blood seeping into his lungs slowly enough that he wasn't able to call for help but he was still breathing shallowly enough to live. Realizing that the only person the sound could be coming from could be their target, he roughly grabbed Aphrodite's arm and started pulling her down the tunnel faster. "Shit! We need to find Minthe! We need to find her now! She's in serious trouble!"

"What? What kind of trouble and how do you know?!" Aphrodite shot back, attempting to pry her brother's fingers from her forearm. On a goddess, it wouldn't leave a bruise, but damn if it didn't hurt.

Ares growled at having to explain while he was desperate searching the caves with his powers. "She's injured, badly. You remember how weak she was, how easily she got hurt, almost like a mortal, well I can hear her.. somewhere, and she'll suffocate on her own blood if we don't get to her quickly enough to drain her lungs and repair the damage. She's likely broken several bones, maybe even a few ribs to amongst them, and shock is a near guarantee at this point. Don't ask me how I know; it's a War God thing, but we have to find her and get her back to Rhea or our mission is done with!"

"Was it Thanatos! Did he get her already?" Aphrodite asked, Ares' intensity infecting her. She knew Ares knew what he was talking about, and her mind's eye was conjuring up the most gruesome images.

"I have know idea. We just.. there, down! We have to go down!" Ares insisted with the certitude of a god in his element.

Aphrodite could see no means of accomplishing what her brother was insisting must be, so she grabbed his arm this time, stopping him in his tracks. "We're going down! The tunnel slopes down! What are you talking about, we need to go down?!"

"No, you don't understand! Minthe isn't down this tunnel. She must have fallen into a lower cavern. The question is how," Ares returned, knowing what his senses were telling him, but that he needed calm to follow them. It all fit; Minthe was coming down this way when she fell and tumbled downward, only to get badly banged up along the way.

"Then where's the drop? Where's the sinkhole? Where's ledge she fell off, because I don't see one!" Aphrodite shot back, hating when her older siblings treated her like a hindrance. Ares was way better than Athena in that regard, but he could still belittle her intelligence at times.

"Don't panic, Dite. We'll figure it out. She's still a god, which means she'll have longer than a mortal would in the same situation. Okay, we need more light. Perhaps then we'll see from where she fell," Ares determined, creating multiple lanterns all along the tunnel's walls. Examining the area, he found nothing that wasn't solid an growled in frustration. He knew he was right, yet he could find the drop.

"Maybe she teleported? I mean, it took us longer to figure that out, but perhaps Minthe did it instinctively or something. Hephie once told me that the first time he brought one of his sculptures to life, he nearly jumped off a mountain in surprise. Maybe Minthe did the same thing when she got lost," Aphrodite offered, hoping to give her brother some direction.

"If she did we're screwed. We can't track her so close to the underworld and if she teleported, it would be like looking for a needle in a hay stack, too much ground to cover," Ares commented, hesitant to consider the little goddess had just suddenly developed a new skill with no training or practice.

"Can you lock onto the sound, maybe teleport to her?" Aphrodite suggested, otherwise unsure of what to do. She knew that was not such an easy thing when Ares didn't know what he'd be teleporting into, but it was all could come up with.

"It's risky, but.. what choice do we have?" Ares conceded, not completely sold on the idea, but knowing it was the best option with the limited timetable they had. Minthe would last longer than a human would, true, but the fact that she'd managed to die the first time around spoke to the fact that she was still mortal.

A part of him wanted to ask for help, after all doing so had saved him the last time, when he'd stopped Dahok from raping Gabrielle with the help of his family, but this wasn't the same. Going back and crying to his family this time mean trusting his less reliable relatives, or terrifying his long suffering grandmother, and disappointing the one sibling who'd stuck by him through thick and thin. No, he'd failed Aphrodite the first time, only to be blamed by the same adults he might now seek assistance from. No, he'd learned that there were times to rely on others, but there also had to be times when you relied on yourself. He could change his past, even if he couldn't completely control the changes he wrought. This time he and Aphrodite would be Minthe's heroes.

Giving her brother a quick hug, Aphrodite pulled herself back against the wall of the cavern to give him the maximum amount of room to start from. "If you're not back in twelve hours, I'm returning to Rhea and all of Olympus will come searching. Then you'll have to deal with Mom and Dad.. again, so don't dilly dally."

Smirking at his younger sister's world choice, he briefly thought of Athena again and how some of her unique turns of phrase had found their way into most of the surviving Olympians' day to day conversations, not to mention those of mortals thousands of years after her death. His big sister's legacy had lived on, but despite knowing he'd done the right thing, Ares couldn't help wishing Athena had possessed the discretion join that legacy by standing down.

"Fine, twelve hours. That should give me plenty of time, one way or another," Ares replied ominously, knowing that either he'd bring back a living Minthe or her corpse. Both were possible, but at least this time he could say he'd done his best to save her. At least he wouldn't live with the regret any longer.

As Ares disappeared in his telltale flash of blue, Aphrodite made a stool with a fuzzy pink cushion appear behind herself and sat down. All she could do now was wait. Once again she was the weak little sister who had to rely on the warriors of the family to get things done. She hated that role, but she was no warrior, especially not in the body of an eight year old.

When Ares reached the spot Minthe's low moans were emanating from, he found her impaled by a stalagmite, and just as bad off as he'd figured she would be. He didn't see any reaction from her beyond the small pained sounds, but that didn't necessarily mean she was unconscious enough to not freak out if touched unexpectedly. Not wanting to scare her further, Ares spoke to her gently in his best comforting tone. "Minthe, It's Ares. I'm going to get you out of here and take you back to Rhea. She can help you."

Suddenly, instinctively, Ares rolled out of the way, as Thanatos' thick fist struck the ground beside him. Only his equally-old reflexes had saved him from being squashed like a fly, and he knew with certainty that he was outmatched in size, strength, and power, particularly in his younger body. Still, he wouldn't bow to this simple great-uncle or whatever. He was Ares, God of War, son of Zeus and Hera, an Olympian through and through. Pulling himself to his full, thirteen year old height, he looked the monster in the eye and tilted his chin up in arrogant defiance before speaking. "Hey Thanatos; how they hangin'?"

.


	3. Chapter 3

Authoress' Note: This story begins in 2001, but after the events of 'Soul Possession'.

P.S. While you have to be familiar with Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess to read this story, you don't need as much background on 'Being Erica' to follow along. In that series, Erica Strange, a 31-year-old woman living in Toronto in 2009, undergoes the same time travel therapy featured in this story, in order to learn from her regrets over her past choices. While Erica's doctor is Dr. Tom, the therapist featured in 'Being Ares', Dr. Naadiah, appeared in a handful of 'Being Erica' episodes and was once Dr. Tom's therapist and his mentor during the series. In short, 'Being Erica' lends its premise and a few of its characters, but this is first and foremost a Hercules: The Legendary Journeys / Xena: Warrior Princess fanfic.

 **Being Ares:** **Ares and Aphrodite's Excellent Adventure**

 **Part** **3**

A Xena: Warrior Princess / Being Erica Crossover

By Arianwen P. F. Everett

Aphrodite closed her eyes and tried to squelch her worry. Ares had been gone half of his twelve hours and though she'd given him the full half day, she couldn't help but wonder what was holding him up. If he had found Minthe, he should have brought her back. Getting to her was the hard part. Getting her out should be easy. She was a full god, so there would be no issue with teleporting and he knew where he was to end up this time. Yet here she was, alone, still waiting on him.

"Aphrodite?" a calm voice questioned in an attempt to get her attention, and the Goddess of Love startled.

Ignoring her surprise, Aphrodite shot to her feet to greet the petite, same sex oriented therapist with the pixie cut who'd sent them back in time. She had so many questions and her recent anxiety sent them flying from her mouth before she could organize them. "There you are! I was wondering why you hadn't shown up yet. I mean, I know Ares and I are supposed to do the work, but he told me you sometimes come to guide him when he veers off track. Wait, does this mean Ar isn't supposed to have separated from me to find Minthe? Is he in danger? Why are you here?!"

"Calm down. For the moment Ares is fine. He's working through this as best he can, just as you are. Actually, it's you I'm here for. I was wondering how things have been going for you? I know it can be a shock, but your brother took to it remarkably well," Dr. Naadiah asked, complimenting Ares' ease with therapy in order to make his sister more comfortable.

"I think I made things worse, not better. Because I freaked out, Minthe ran into the caves and Ar says she's badly hurt. Now he's off trying to find her broken body, and all I can think is what if I loose them both this time because I couldn't handle being trapped in.. this body?" Aphrodite replied, tears spilling free, as she sought reassurance from Ares' trusted therapist.

"I promise you I won't let that happen. I keep a close eye on my patients and if they suffer any life threatening injury, they get pulled back immediately. Since I sent you along with your brother, that goes for you too. I can't make any guarantees for your friend, Minthe, as this is the point in time she's meant to be in, but you and Ares will survive this. Whatever happens, you are where you're meant to be and when you're done you'll move on," Dr. Naadiah returned, not wanting the Goddess to suffer. This wasn't her therapy, per say, but since she'd come along, helping her was as much Naadiah's duty as helping Ares this time around.

"Thank you, Doctor," Aphrodite sniffled, making a handkerchief appear as she dabbed her eyes and loudly blew her nose.

"Your welcome," Dr. Naadiah replied automatically, giving the goddess time to get herself back together.

"By the Gods, I'm so useless here! I can't even keep myself together without a mortal to help me. No offense, of course," Aphrodite added, her slightly puffy eyes and sniffles the only remaining sign of her outburst.

"None taken, but you're being far too hard on yourself. You took a serious leap of faith in trusting me to send you back with Ares. You had a choice to return to your grandmother and leave this all on her shoulders, but refused to do so when your friend needed you. Now you've come up with a plan of action should things spiral too far beyond your control. You're hardly useless, Aphrodite. However, this body that your in is your body, just at an earlier point in time," Dr. Naadiah explained, needing Aphrodite to see her strengths and all she brought to the table, even now, as a child.

"But my grown up one is so much more useful, even with titans," Aphrodite retorted, knowing that Dr. Naadiah was right about her current body having been her own at one point, but even back then she'd often felt useless. It was why she'd been so eager to show Minthe the ocean, to show off what she knew and share it all with someone who was younger. Minthe had looked up to her because of her greater power and extra year of life experience and that had made her feel important rather than a burden to be dumped on Rhea when things got too hairy.

"Honestly, would it be? Do you really believe that Thanatos or the other titans would care what you looked like had you been in the same body I met you in?" Dr. Naadiah asked, curious as to why Aphrodite believed her family's sworn enemies would end a war for world domination based on her flirting with them. Grant it, the goddess was attractive, but her words still seemed a bit far fetched.

"Maybe not long term, but it would have slowed them down enough to have given my family a much easier victory. I really am that good," Aphrodite preened, before looking down at her flat chest wistfully. Her appearance had always been her power. She had other positive qualities of course, but none were nearly as proficient at getting the job done. Aphrodite was as sure of that as she was that the sun rose in the East, and nobody would have ever touched Minthe if she'd been at full force when her childhood friend had been killed.

Dr. Naadiah knew she couldn't talk Aphrodite out of her belief in her own power over men, be they gods, titans, or mortals, but that didn't mean she couldn't help the Goddess of Love see things through a different lens. "I don't doubt that you are, but it wasn't your body that made your brother trust you with the details of this therapy, and it wasn't your body that made him willing to ask for your help back when that ancient god, Dahok, sought to enter the world by raping and impregnating Gabrielle…"

"That's different. Ares and I have always depended on each other. We're family," Aphrodite retorted, rolling her eyes at the doctor Ares thought was so clever. This woman probably meant well, but if she couldn't understand the complexity of family then she certainly wouldn't be able to help Ares. Heck, it was their family that primarily screwed him up in the first place, long before Warrior Babe came along.

"And Minthe was your friend. Did she care about you for your body?" Dr. Naadiah countered, needing the goddess to see that she held value, even in a body that wasn't to her liking.

She took it back. Ares' Doc did have potential. "No"

Dr. Naadiah pressed onward, hoping Aphrodite would discover a path forward. Grant it, she had no idea what that path should be, but telling her patient's sister what she should do wouldn't help her. She had to come it it herself. "And yet her memory still motivates you, thousands of years after her death, as Ares' regret motivates him."

"Because I was reckless back then, foolish and childish!" Aphrodite spat out, the internalized self deprecation of thousands of years forcing its way to the fore.

"Because you were a child. I know it isn't easy to hear, but when all this was happening the first time, you weren't grown yet. You didn't have an adult body, true, but you also didn't have an adult mind. You didn't have the thousands of year of adult experience that made you the woman who showed up in my office one chilly October morning in 2001. Judging your child-self by unreasonable standards won't change the choices and actions you made in your youth, but though you wear that younger, less developed body, you are not her anymore. You have the ability to choose better here, else I wouldn't have sent you along on this regret," Dr. Naadiah insisted, letting Aphrodite see the respect she had for the Love Goddess' non-sexual attributes, and her confidence that Aphrodite would find the strength and intuition she'd need regardless of her form.

For a few moments Aphrodite was silent, absorbing what she'd just been told, trying to find a flaw with the therapist's logic and finding none. "You're good at this, ya know?"

"Thank you. I do my best. That's all anyone can do," Dr. Naadiah replied simply.

Minthe groaned a bit more as Ares elevated her feet on a rock to limit the likelihood of shock, before placing the girl's head on another, more steeply inclined one so as to use gravity to pull the blood down as much as possible. Removing the light jacket that completed the climbing suits Aphrodite had materialized for them, he draped the insulated material over the seven year old's upper body, before removing his socks to pull them over Minthe's sandalled feet. After putting his soft soled boots back on, he gave his sister's childhood companion's right hand a comforting squeeze of reassurance. "Sorry if it hurts, kid, but this will give you more time."

Thanatos had pretty much spilled the beans on his plan the moment Ares had gotten him talking. He and Minthe were bait for the other Olympians, and being as they were in what was currently the mean, old titan's realm, if Ares tried to use his powers, Thanatos would sense it before the young God of War could do anything resulting in Minthe's immediate execution. She was not the prisoner of value that Zeus and Hera's firstborn son was, so she was expendable. He didn't need to hear it from the titan, instinct told him that.

"What you doing?" Thanatos questioned as he watched Ares closely. He knew he wasn't as smart as the Olympians or some of his brothers and sisters, but he was intelligent enough to know his limitations, which was why he'd kept his eyes on the two child-gods since he'd found the injured girl that had quite literally fallen into his hands.

"Keeping Minthe warm, so her blood pressure doesn't plunge due to trauma and blood loss," Ares answered, knowing the titan wouldn't understand. Heck, Athena would just barely understand at this stage in the game, but titans were quicker to anger and generally didn't try to see things from their enemy's perspective. Atlas and Ares' grandfather, Chronos, had been the only true exceptions, which was a big factor in why his parents' and their allies had won the war.

Accepting his ignorance about such matters, Thanatos continued his questioning. "Where'd you learn to do that?"

"Well, when you're the God of War, you tend to pick this sort of thing up," Ares teased back, causing the titan to boom with laughter.

"God of War?! You, Pipsqueak you, God of War?" Thanatos spat out in utter amusement.

"Yes," Ares grinned knowingly, refusing to be insulted by someone he used to yell taunts down to once his father had imprisoned the titans deep in the abyss. He'd been a just as much of a shit of a teenager as he'd been as a god, before Xena had entered his life. Okay, perhaps Xena hadn't entirely changed that, but she'd tempered it some. He had to give her that.

"Then how did a dumb guy like me capture the God of War so easily?" Thanatos queried, still amused by the boy's claim.

"Perhaps it was too easy?" Ares suggested, modulating his voice so that the statement sounded like a question. His best hope was to anger the titan enough that he could get Minthe out of the cavern. Titans were too selfish to understand sacrifice. They could work together well enough when each of them saw benefit to the arrangement, but taking one for the team was out of their worldview.

Prometheus had been the only one of their race that was able to master that skill, which was why Hera had hated him so much. He'd seen the long game and had sided with mankind over the gods. Ares had eventually done the same, but by then it was too late to save his own people. Many mortals had though the Olympian gods equally incapable, even his mongrel half brother had held that opinion for the first few decades of his life, but at the end of the day, he'd been wrong. Ares had always known Aphrodite was capable, as was Athena. Even Strife had put aside his own needs once or twice. However, unlike mortals, the gods were selective about who they sacrificed for. Knowing they'd eventually die anyway left humankind valuing their own continuation too cheaply. The gods would sometimes take risks for one another, or even for mortals they loved, but not for just anybody. To her credit, Minthe wasn't just anybody to Aphrodite, and the Goddess of Love wasn't just anyone to Ares.

Thanatos considered this question before blurting out his confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, how do you know I didn't trick you? How do you know this isn't a trap?" Ares pressed forward, waiting for the large man to process his questioning.

"Cause I've got you and the little girl!" Thanatos returned, trying to sound confident as his darting eyes gave away his worry.

"A little girl who just magically showed up? A little girl who happens to appear hurt and helpless, just when you need something big on your score card to impress Chronos so he'll let you out of Tartarus duty? And Zeus and Hera's son, really? Do you actually believe they'd be stupid enough to let him off his leash without some sort of plan? You know the prophesy, father kills son, over and over again, til the end of time. Yet here I appear to be, talking to you? Please tell me you're smarter than that at least," Ares appeared to plead as he enjoyed the confusion and fear growing on the titan's face.

"You're right, this has to be a trap! You're trying to trick me?! I'll show you!" Thanatos growled as he let his anger flow through him, sparking his power. Just as he was about to lunge at the tiny Ares who'd positioned himself several feet away, a flash of light enveloped Minthe and she disappeared, causing the titan to turn towards the flash.

Thanatos let out a scream of disappointment before slamming Ares with a wall of his power. "Hey, what did you do?! Where'd she go?!"

Coughing raggedly as he sought to get his wind back, Ares smirked, despite the pain that surged through him. He might know how to shield himself from the full effects of a titan's push, but it still hurt when he collided with the cave wall. "Don't worry, she's safe. The question you should be asking yourself is, are you?"

Thanatos struck again, but Ares expertly dodged the blow, unleashing a fireball at the titan's boot, setting the fringe ablaze. Then another caught the hem of his cloak as he turned around and around, trying to extinguish his foot. Fireballs weren't even thing yet as the older Olympians fighting this war channeled their power through their weapon, his own father being the exception with his thunderbolts, but then Ares wasn't a sniveling thirteen year old boy any more.

However, he knew he had to get back to Minthe and Aphrodite. He's sent the badly injured child to his sister, but she'd need help getting the girl back to their grandmother who'd possessed healing powers long before Athena ever took up the art. Besides, if he killed Thanatos here and now there would be too many questions and far too much of history would be up in the air. The world he returned to would almost certainly be unrecognizable; humans might not even have come into being at all. That would mean no Dr. Naadiah to bring him back to 2001.. and no Xena, ever. Sighing as he throttled back his bloodlust, Ares took one more satisfied glance at the thrashing Thanatos, who was still quelling the last of the flames, and teleported back to his sister and her friend.

"Ares, you did it! You got her out!" Aphrodite squealed, giving her brother a congratulatory bear hug.

"Ah, we still have to move. Minthe still needs healing stat," Ares insisted as he picked up the weakened girl and carried her, making sure to keep her head elevated and resting on his shoulder.

"Can't we just.. ya know, poof?" Aphrodite gesticulated, waving her hand to indicate her meaning.

"We're still too far underground. The titan grim reaper would be able to track us if I used my powers. Considering I singed him with two fire balls, he'll wanting revenge, and I might not be able to catch him off guard a second time. Trust me, it's better we run!" Ares ordered as he and his sister took off down the tunnels that had brought them there. This part of the underground system they probably knew better, and could navigate more easily due to their smaller size, but the young God of War wasn't going to take a chance with his little sister and an injured girl in tow.

"Just like old times, huh?!" Aphrodite jested as they continued through the caves. For better or for worse, running from titans had been a serious part of her childhood, and it all came back to her now with amazing clarity. She knew this was the past and that she'd soon be back in 2001, but at the moment, she was back in her childhood, not just her younger self's physical body, and reliving the danger and fear.

"At least this time we know the outcome and all the things we have to live for," Ares returned, his brain inevitably turning to Xena and all they'd been through. He'd never known what it meant to live before her and despite all the pain, he'd meant what he said to her after she'd saved her daughter from Varia's wrath, he really wouldn't have it any other way.

"Warrior Babe?" Aphrodite gave her brother a teasing wink as they took a hard corner into an even smaller cavern.

Ares rolled his eyes, both at himself and his younger sister's mischievous expression. "Oh shut up."

"Your therapist came to see me earlier. She's really good at her job. You should discuss Xena with her," Aphrodite pushed forward. Had she been mortal, she'd be tiring, but thankfully she could run infinitely longer than a human without breaking a sweat, which was a good thing as sweating was seriously gross.

"I have and we will. Dr. Naadiah picks the regrets I work on, remember, and so far most have had to deal with Xena in one way or another. The big ones we've not yet touched upon, but Dr. Naadiah swore we'd get to each and every regret, so I'm trusting the process for the time being. Not much choice as I made a commitment," Ares admitted as the two young gods reached the final hurdle, the sliver of a cave that they'd entered.

Remembering their attire, Ares changed their clothing back to the simple fabrics and furs that they'd been in when they began spelunking for Minthe. The two gods in the bodies of children pressed themselves against the cave wall and began easing their way through, knowing it would be slow going from here.

Suddenly an angry, grasping hand reached through, catching Aphrodite's golden curls. Clinging to Minthe's legs that she'd be holding to prevent the girl's limbs from smashing against the the wall as they moved through the narrow passage, she let out a bloodcurdling scream like the one that had started this whole mess. "Ares, help! He's got me!"

Gently placing Minthe on the ground, as Aphrodite's arms relocated to a stable part of the wall, Ares raised his hands in front of him and forced his brain to remember the minute details of his sword that Hephaestus had made him, the one that had always been the symbol of his power and had caused the trouble he and Xena had solved on his first regret. Despite his sister's shrieks of pain as she held the wall as tightly as she could to prevent being dragged back by the titan, an steel sword in the exact same shape as his old one appeared in his hands and he flipped over his sister, cutting off her hair as he went, before stabbing the Thanatos' knuckles twice, causing the titan himself to holler and retrieve his bleeding paw.

Pushing past his freed sister, Ares snatched up Minthe's prone body again, checked her thready pulse, and continued squeezing through. Unfortunately it became apparent that they couldn't continue with the injured goddess in tow. The crevice they were traveling was too narrow and compressed their bodies at times. Looking back, Ares could see Thanatos had regrouped and had stuck his good hand back into the cave, but was unable to reach them. If he stretched himself into a better position, he'd have them, and everything would have been for naught. "Great!"

"We only have a few more feet! Dynamite the sucker!" Aphrodite shouted, stunning Ares with the ferocity of her words. It was times like this he truly saw himself in the Love Goddess, and he couldn't help but smirk in anticipation. "Get down and put up a shield around you and Minthe! There's going to be a lot of debris!"

Seeing his sister hit the ground, Ares turned around and sent a godly shove similar to the one Thanatos had used on him earlier, against the weak stone that made up the opening the younger Olympians used to crawl deeper into the Earth. They'd have to seal this one up, considering that Thanatos was now onto it. Their siblings would likely give them hell for compromising the caves that constituted a sort of play room, but that couldn't be helped if Minthe was to live. A second shove, blew a hole straight through into Rhea's back pantry, and taking up Minthe one final time, he and Aphrodite crossed the finish line to safety, sealing up the tunnel behind them with fallen boulders.

Thanatos wouldn't dare abandon his post in the underworld, and if he did, he'd have to deal with his sister. As family oriented as she was, Rhea was far more powerful than any of her siblings, save her husband, and as thick-headed as the titans could be, none of them were stupid enough to try Rhea when she was protecting her offspring and thankfully Ares and Aphrodite fell into that category.

"Nana, Minthe needs you! She's hurt!" Aphrodite called urgently as Rhea arrived in the pantry, having come running after the explosion had shaken their cave complex.

"What happened? Where were you? I was searching all afternoon! I even brought Athena back from her rounds! You had us all worried!" Rhea chided as she knelt beside the half dead child and poured her healing power into the little girl.

Ares stepped up to answer their grandmother, still a bit weary of what they said or didn't say. He'd told Xena he loved her thirty years too early on his first regret and he didn't want Aphrodite making a verbal misstep that would cost as much or more. After all, this was a one time deal for her. He had over forty more regrets to go.

"We figured she must have headed underground when Dite's scream frightened her, so we headed down to search for her."

"Thanatos had her, and he nearly got us as well, but we were able to save her!" Aphrodite added, giving Ares a nod of understanding, but refusing to stay completely silent.

Before Rhea could respond, Athena rushed and joined her on the floor with Minthe who was slowly but surely being knit back together. Sparing a gaze at her disheveled siblings, Athena focused her power on helping Rhea. "What in Father's name happened!"

"They saved Minthe, Child! Got the better of my brother, Thanatos, too! You should be proud of them, Athena," Rhea stated as she helped Minthe sit up a bit, having finally regained consciousness. The seven year old still needed a bit more energy, but their work was nearly completed and she could refocus on her grandchildren. Athena might be aloof and excessively arrogant, but she loved their family fiercely, and that made both a good healer and a good sister.

Knowing Rhea could finish up with Minthe, Athena pulled herself to her full, if still diminutive height, and approached Ares and Aphrodite. "You guys took on Thanatos and won?"

"Well Ares did most of the 'taking on', but I helped a little bit," Aphrodite confirmed, wanting to give her two warrior siblings a special moment. Despite sharing a godhood, the two had polar opposite approaches to war, which had frequently left them unable to speak to each other much less express their feelings. As painful as it was to admit, regardless of their foray into the past, Athena was gone, and Aphrodite wanted Ares to have something to replace his final memory of their sister, asking him why he'd sacrificed her life and the reign of the Olympians by giving up his godhood to save Eve and Gabrielle.

Ares observed his sister as she studied him, wondering how she'd interpret the changes in him. He'd already demonstrated his superior fighting ability, and now he'd gone and challenged a titan to save a child's life. Athena could have chalked their earlier sparing match up to luck or a prank he and Aphrodite were pulling, but now he was acting extremely out of character and alarm bells had to be going off in her head.

Eventually her greyish-blue eyes fell on the steel sword he'd forgotten to dispose of and reached for it, only to have him jerk backwards, his reflexes quicker than his thirteen year old should rightfully possess. Zeus might not have enough faith in his eldest daughter's instincts and abilities just yet, but with hard evidence to back her up, he'd be more inclined to take her seriously. This realization caused Ares heart to race, as he forced himself to hold her eyes. If he backed down now, it would only increase any suspicions she might already hold. Thanatos was one thing, but Ares had never come close to matching Zeus in either power or wit. He'd never withstand a serious interrogation from the King of the Gods at the height of his power, irregardless of his body's age. Aphrodite would probably crumble in seconds. Knowing he'd need to speak lest he draw even more attention to himself, he attempted to appear casual. "Thanatos is dumb, and challenging him was better than dealing with Mom and Dad if something had happened to Minthe."

"You're usually just as intellectually unencumbered, but I see your point. Mom and Dad don't need the stress. I'm just glad the two of you are alright," Athena replied, her eyes calmly moving back and forth between her two younger siblings.

"I think Minthe needs some ambrosia broth to get her back up to snuff. What do you say?" Rhea asked the little girl who had gotten to her feet and stood next to Aphrodite during the staring match between the future God and Goddess of War.

"Come on 'Dite!" Minthe exclaimed grabbing her best friend's hand. For a moment, Aphrodite tensed at the pull, but quickly gave in and followed Rhea out of the back pantry. They'd won. Minthe was alive. Whether that would remain true was hard to say; too much had happened over the next 40,000 years. Yet here and now, her very first friend was alive. After thousands of year of regret, she'd take it.


	4. Chapter 4

Authoress' Note: This story begins in 2001, but after the events of 'Soul Possession'.

P.S. While you have to be familiar with Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess to read this story, you don't need as much background on 'Being Erica' to follow along. In that series, Erica Strange, a 31-year-old woman living in Toronto in 2009, undergoes the same time travel therapy featured in this story, in order to learn from her regrets over her past choices. While Erica's doctor is Dr. Tom, the therapist featured in 'Being Ares', Dr. Naadiah, appeared in a handful of 'Being Erica' episodes and was once Dr. Tom's therapist and his mentor during the series. In short, 'Being Erica' lends its premise and a few of its characters, but this is first and foremost a Hercules: The Legendary Journeys / Xena: Warrior Princess fanfic.

 **Being Ares:** **Ares and Aphrodite's Excellent Adventure**

 **Part** **4**

A Xena: Warrior Princess / Being Erica Crossover

By Arianwen P. F. Everett

As Ares watched Minthe and Aphrodite walk away together, he felt accomplished. He'd finally banished one of his sister's earliest demons and made up for his own mistakes in the matter. Truthfully, this probably wouldn't change much. Minthe's parents didn't spend much time around mortals and Minthe was a bit hesitant around some of the more boisterous gods as well. She was a wallflower and thus would be unlikely to make a name for herself once mortals arrived on the scene. Though this would likely be a private victory for him and his younger sister, it was a victory they could both be proud of.

"She wasn't supposed to survive, was she?" Athena asked curiously, breaking into Ares' revelry and immediately putting him on alert.

"I don't know what you mean," Ares replied as he sent away his sword, dumping it under an ice sheet on the land mass that would one day be called Greenland. Let his sister find it there if she were that determined to bust him.

"You outfight me. You discuss things that don't exist as if they do exist. You carry weapons made of metals I've never even seen before. You best a titan on your own.. excuse me.. with Aphrodite's help. As you so kindly pointed out this morning, I'm the Goddess of Wisdom. One or two of these things, I could overlook, but all together they point to you being someone other than yourself. The fact that you could find your way around the caves and knew enough about the situation to construct a plan that tells me that you're still Ares, just not the Ares I know. So either you're from an alternate dimension, or you're from the future. I'm guessing the latter, since you and Dite have been using the past tense a bit more than usual today," Athena detailed for her brother, ticking off the reasons she'd come to her conclusion.

"Assuming you're right, what proof do you have for Father?" Ares replied, challenging his sister to show her cards.

"Who says I'm telling Father?" Athena retorted, smiling at her brother's carefully hidden confusion.

"Experience," Ares returned, not trusting his big sister. She could be drawing him out, trying to get him to give himself up so that when she did tell Zeus, she'd have his own words to use against him.

Athena sighed, knowing she wasn't going to get a confirmation of her suspicions from him, even if he was from the future. Whatever had transpired between them over the course of their futures had left her brother weary of trusting her, and Athena had to admit that hurt. Looking Ares in the eyes, chose her next words carefully. "I'm sorry for whatever will make you see me as the enemy. I know I'm.. overly-confident.. at times and am likely to blame for some of it. You've obviously matured for the better if you can save a child's life at the risk of your own safety and have the discretion to preserve the bigger picture. I just want you to know I am proud of what you did today, and I hope that this change is indicative of the the god you've managed to become."

Ares was floored by Athena's statement. He'd never thought she'd admit any fault in herself, much less claim to be proud of him for anything. He now understood that both had been too proud to say what they truly meant over the centuries and that had obviously bred some of the distrust that had led to their final conflict during the Twilight. She hadn't known him well enough to see his love for Xena was more than a temper tantrum and he'd simply assumed that she wouldn't care if she had acknowledged the depth of his feeling. Now, near the beginning of their relationship, when they were pretty much still kids, the layers were stripped away and truth could be spoken. He knew it couldn't last, that the nature of their godhoods demanded conflict between them, but in this moment he could be honest with her. "That means a lot to me. I wish I could say more, but I'm not sure how long I'll be able to say it, for reasons you've doubtlessly already figured out. However.. I want you to know that I love you, for all the times I'll be too.. overly-confident to say it. That never alters, no matter how much it may seem to on the surface."

"I'll try to remember that, although I doubt you'll make it easy for me," Athena responded, overwhelmed by the depth of emotion that her younger brother was sending her way. She loved him too, but no matter how much she wanted to, something inside her refused to say it, so she fell back on humor, fighting to keep any mocking from her voice. She didn't want to ruin good will between them.

"No, can't say that I will," Ares returned, smiling back with understanding.

"How about we get our fair share of broth in honor of a job well done?" Athena asked rhetorically as she looped her arm with her brother's and guided him towards the small enclave Rhea used for a dining room.

Feeling a small shiver go through him, the God of War experienced a deep wave of loss, but held it together for his sister's sake. Having experienced it three times already, Ares knew Dr. Naadiah was pulling him back to 2001. Unable to think of anything profound to say in the final seconds they'd have together, Ares could only bring himself to nod and play along in an effort to smooth the way for his younger self's return. "Sure. Some warm ambrosia broth sounds good after the day I've had."

Closing his eyes as the world shifted around him, Ares held back the well of disappointment and sorrow that threatened to flood through him. He was a creature of rage and fire, yet right now he was struggling to feel anything but loss.

Once he felt the soft leather of Dr. Naadiah's office chair beneath the palms of his hands, he took a deep, cleansing breath, but refused to open his eyes. He didn't yet have control, and a God of War in the grips of an emotional upheaval of this magnitude was a dangerous thing. Fearing his therapist might make the wrong move and get herself killed, Ares raised a hand that glowed blue with raw power. "Don't come near me! Please, just stay back for a moment. I don't want to harm you!"

Staying put, Dr. Naadiah merely watched the God of War as he fought for control. It was an awe inspiring thing to behold, and she finally understood why the ancient peoples of the Earth saw these people as greater than themselves. It was like having a nuclear reactor sitting behind her desk, though technically Ares could cause far greater damage, which was why the therapist stayed so still.

Daring to glance over at the Goddess of Love, Naadiah could see that she too was observing her brother intently, but her hands were poised on an armrest, as if she was preparing to intervene if Ares lost the battle with his own emotions. Now Dr. Naadiah was glad she'd had the idea to send the two of them together, and had to wonder if she'd subconsciously known the danger to herself if Ares was pushed hard enough that he ended up in his current state. As her office held no true geographic location, the only at risk was herself, but hat didn't make the danger any less real. Every cell in her body was telling her that in the most primal, fight-or-flight level. She'd never been as frightened of a patient's reaction as she was at this moment, but that only made her less concerned for herself and more for Ares.

Finally, after a few moments of silent tension, the God of War blinked several times, gently bit his bottom lip, and slowly relaxed his fingers, as he exhaled deeply. His eyes shut as he took a few more deep breaths, then opened again and turned towards Dr. Naadiah. "I'm fine. I'm okay now. I apologize if I frightened you."

Moving to balance on the edge of her desk, as to be closer to her patient but not touch him or invade his personal space, Naadiah looked down into his eyes before speaking. "No need to apologize. This therapy can sometimes overwhelm. I get it, and I know the Twilight took a lot from you, not just temples and worshipers, but family, people you'd known all your life and in some cases, as with Athena, loved dearly. This isn't something we can cover in a single session, but we'll get there, little by little. I promise."

"I.. this session, this regret, wasn't supposed to be about Athena. I mean, I know I still have issues with her. I've known that a long time, but this was supposed to be about Aphrodite and Minthe. I wanted to save Minthe for Dite, to turn a terrible memory into something easier to live with. I wanted to succeed where I failed the first time," Ares explained, trying to express where his mind was and where he was stuck.

"Oh Ar, you didn't fail! You were a kid! I was a kid! Oceanus.. and Thanatos were just jerks who had no problem targeting little girls! No wonder they couldn't get laid," Aphrodite grumbled, hating the Titans that had made their childhoods so full of fear and uncertainty more now than ever. Back then it was just scary, but now she saw that she'd had something stolen from her, as had her siblings. Ares was just one of the few still alive who shared the scars.

"You both grew up on a war zone, and as the God of War, you of all people should understand what that means, what it does to a child in that situation. You blame yourself because its easier than admitting that what happened to Minthe could have happened to Aphrodite, or yourself.. or Athena," Dr. Naadiah pressed on, needing her patient to see how little power he'd actually had.

Anger shot through Ares and Aphrodite moved to stand between the therapist and her brother. "And I guess you want me to feel guilty about that. I'm the God of War, Athena was the Goddess of Warfare. We're the monsters, right? We deserved all.."

"She didn't say that Ar, so back off!" Aphrodite shouted, bringing the palms of her hands up to ensure her brother made no move against Dr. Naadiah.

"I never said you were a monster, or that any child deserved to grow up in the middle of a war. If I had, I would be the monster. You're the God of War; you've made it very clear that you were born that way and had no choice in the matter, so I don't blame you. I only acknowledge what you went through and how it impacted you," Dr. Naadiah defended, wanting her patient to understand that she could sympathize with him without blaming himself for the burdens he was born with.

"Bro, I was wrong to blame you for Minthe's death when we were younger. I blamed myself for not being a warrior like you and Thenie, but now I understand that I couldn't have done anything to save her and it wasn't my fault. The god you are today saved Minthe; the god you were then couldn't. We both did the best we could, then and now," Aphrodite summed up, cracking a small smile of gratitude for Dr. Naadiah. Her therapy might be unorthodox, but in a single session, Aphrodite had been unburdened of guilt she'd carried with her for centuries.

Still, Ares needed this far more than she did, as he'd been twisted far worse than she ever was. Her godhood had made her beloved and there had always been gods and mortals there to help her through. Dr. Naadiah was one of the few people that had ever been on his team, and she was genuinely grateful.

"Your sister is right. You saved Minthe when you could. The rest was out of your control," Dr. Naadiah concluded. Because Ares was the God of War, mortals had frequently blamed him for everything that happened in war. Yet Naadiah had come to see that while Ares could set the stage, assist those who promulgated wars, and even amp up the combatants emotionally, he was not all powerful, and thus not all to blame. His family had needed a scapegoat here and they'd chosen an innocent boy, burdening him unreasonably as mortals would do for thousands of years to come.

Ares desperately needed to learn how to determine what was his fault and what wasn't. Naadiah could see quite clearly that many of his regrets stemmed from that inability, including most of those involving Athena. But those they'd deal with in due time.

Ares sighed, not sure he could forgive himself. He knew what they were saying made sense. He understood the impacts of war for children on a primal level, but that part of him that needed to protect his family and had watched his little sister cry herself to sleep for weeks after Minthe's death wouldn't let him completely buy Dr. Naadiah's argument. It had given him food for thought, but he wasn't ready to completely let go. "Maybe. At least Athena was proud of me. She told me when you and Minthe went to get your broth. I'd forgotten that we'd once been able to talk like that."

"What did I tell you? Athena's puppy dog right here," Aphrodite smugly exclaimed, rolling her eyes. Growing up she'd never sought Athena's attention. They were just on two completely separate wavelengths and always had been. She'd loved her, and occasionally they connected as sisters, but ultimately they were just too different to be close. She'd always wished that could be different, but in the end had accepted the distance.

"I was not her puppy dog! I respected her, okay?! She was my big sister and a kick*ss warrior! I sought to be like her back then, and I wanted to be acknowledged for it. I finally got that, albeit centuries too late to do anything about it, but at least she saw the person I'd become and approved," Ares returned, refusing to have his sister or his therapist spoil the praise he'd been holding his breath for nearly his entire life to gain.

"Whoa! Wait! You told her about therapy?! How could you do that, and how did you get her not to tell Daddy?!" Aphrodite gaped, completely undone by this information.

"No, I never told her about therapy. She figured out that we were from the future, and she didn't tell Father as a peace offering. She didn't have any evidence anyway, and I refused to definitively confirm her suspicions, but she knew and was pleased by how I turned out," Ares boasted, still touched beyond words by the sentiment.

"Hello! Warrior Babe is back! What if we make it home and Thenie's there?! What if she finds out Xena has been reincarnated and you're still chasing her?! She'll go bonkers!" Aphrodite retorted, not understanding how Ares couldn't see the potential repercussions.

"She's not back. I know she's not back. We both lost the ability to talk openly to each other ages ago, and by the time Father died and Eve was in the picture, things were beyond repair. I know she's still gone, but at least I had the chance to hear her say she was proud of me," Ares finished with resignation. He knew he'd continue to feel his elder sister's absence profoundly, but now he had a memory of her worth cherishing. He still remembered the way they'd torn into each other during the Twilight, but this new remembrance was just as real to him, and the pain was somehow lessened by it.

"Well I sure hope you're right. She'd be only slightly less pleased to see me as she would to see you and Warrior Babe again," Aphrodite shivered, imagining all the horrible things her long-dead sister might do to her if she showed up on Olympus and found the petite redhead on Zeus' throne.

"On the off chance you're right, I'll protect you. Besides, we did the mortal thing for over a year and it turned out fine. We could do it again if we had to," Ares responded, hoping to calm his younger sister. He knew in his heart that Athena was still dead. Minthe he had no clue about, but by the time the Twilight happened, they were too set in their ways for any other outcome. As bad as it would be for him to have her alive again and remembering his betrayal, a part of his still wished he wasn't so certain that there was nothing to worry about. Yet he was just that certain.

"Fine? You call that ramshackled lifestyle fine?! I'd rather be dead than do that again! No offense, Dr. Naadiah, but really, you mortals have a tough time of things," Aphrodite insisted, not wanting to offend the human who'd been so nice to her, but unwilling to lie to make her feel better either. She doubted the therapist would want that anyway.

"No offense taken, and you're right, life's never easy when you've been born into such a fragile container. Yet it's what I was meant to be. I couldn't be anything else, nor would I want to," Dr. Naadiah replied, completely unoffended. She understood Aphrodite's perspective, and was glad that the Goddess of Love was so content in her own skin, in her own time.

"That's very cool of you to say, Doc, and I thank you for letting me tag along. However, I have a spa appointment in a little over an hour and I want to do a pre-exfoliation, before I show, so I'm gonna to need to take off," Aphrodite explained as a way of bowing out of whatever came next. Every word out of the therapist's mouth reaffirmed the Love Goddess' previous opinion that Ares was in good hands. However Aphrodite understood that she was a third wheel here and both doctor and patient needed time to dissect what had just gone down this session. If Dr. Naadiah wanted her to say, she'd speak up. If not, the woman would understand that Ares' sister had gotten what she'd came for and was entrusting the God of War to the therapist's care with her full support.

"Then I wish you a good treatment. It was an honor to meet you," Dr. Naadiah replied diplomatically, hearing the Goddess of Love's intentions loud and clear. She'd won the goddess's favor and was now being granted permission to return to her usual routine.

"Duh, of course it was!" Aphrodite quipped as she disappeared in her long practiced sparkly exit.

Ares rolled his eyes and gave his therapist a long suffering glance before taking his seat again. "I apologize for my sister."

"Just be grateful you've never met my two brothers," Dr. Naadiah responded with a chuckle, pulling back her office chair and rejoining her patient. Siblings.. what more was there to say?


End file.
